In keeping with the themes of my last post, I'm providing some more sources (or entertainment, if you like) on these topics.
In the first video 60 Minutes gives us a rundown on the Bloom Box, which might come to replace the conventional grid and alternative energy sources as our main source of power. Venture capitalists still have their doubts but one of them also asserts that the emerging clean energy market is likely the greatest economic opportunity of our century.
At the same time, fuel cells have historically been an expensive and high-maintenance technology. They require expensive inputs, such as titanium, and have durability issues. Bloom Energy has responded by reducing the costs of its units, to make them more competitive than alternatives. They have replaced titanium with a cheaper alloy and the plate of their cells is a sand-based ceramic. The aim of their creator, K. R. Sridhar, is to make household units available for less than $3000.
So far production of the Bloom Box has been cost-effective enough to convince big companies to purchase them. The list already includes Google, FedEx, Walmart, Staples and eBay. It helps that the technology is more effective than solar cells and that California provides incentives that make the effective cost even lower.
Bloom Boxes require half as much gas as conventional power plants do to produce the same amount of electricity. If that gas is biogas from landfill waste the process is carbon-neutral. The cells can also apparently use solar energy to create electricity, though the mechanics behind it are not made clear.
My assessment is that Bloom Boxes will start off primarily powered by natural gas and little incentive will exist to foster greater use of biogas. If this comes to be the case, though this technology stands to cut greenhouse gas emissions, it will not be sufficient.
In this second video, Professor Nate Lewis expounds on what he believes is necessary for a clean energy breakthrough. He suggests the revolution will come in being able to store energy in chemical bonds, much like plants do, instead of in batteries.
Finally it is worth noting that Lewis' technology could be used in combination with Sridhar's. In this arrangement artificial leaves could convert solar energy directly into hydrogen fuel to power Bloom Boxes, which would render them carbon-neutral.
In the first video 60 Minutes gives us a rundown on the Bloom Box, which might come to replace the conventional grid and alternative energy sources as our main source of power. Venture capitalists still have their doubts but one of them also asserts that the emerging clean energy market is likely the greatest economic opportunity of our century.
At the same time, fuel cells have historically been an expensive and high-maintenance technology. They require expensive inputs, such as titanium, and have durability issues. Bloom Energy has responded by reducing the costs of its units, to make them more competitive than alternatives. They have replaced titanium with a cheaper alloy and the plate of their cells is a sand-based ceramic. The aim of their creator, K. R. Sridhar, is to make household units available for less than $3000.
So far production of the Bloom Box has been cost-effective enough to convince big companies to purchase them. The list already includes Google, FedEx, Walmart, Staples and eBay. It helps that the technology is more effective than solar cells and that California provides incentives that make the effective cost even lower.
Bloom Boxes require half as much gas as conventional power plants do to produce the same amount of electricity. If that gas is biogas from landfill waste the process is carbon-neutral. The cells can also apparently use solar energy to create electricity, though the mechanics behind it are not made clear.
My assessment is that Bloom Boxes will start off primarily powered by natural gas and little incentive will exist to foster greater use of biogas. If this comes to be the case, though this technology stands to cut greenhouse gas emissions, it will not be sufficient.
In this second video, Professor Nate Lewis expounds on what he believes is necessary for a clean energy breakthrough. He suggests the revolution will come in being able to store energy in chemical bonds, much like plants do, instead of in batteries.
Finally it is worth noting that Lewis' technology could be used in combination with Sridhar's. In this arrangement artificial leaves could convert solar energy directly into hydrogen fuel to power Bloom Boxes, which would render them carbon-neutral.
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